The coronavirus pandemic has put doubts over the big events of the sporting world. Already the mega tournaments like the Olympics, Wimbledon have been postponed. The cricketing world has suffered too as the biggest T20 league, Indian Premier League is hanging fire.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India had recently postponed the IPL indefinitely after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended the lockdown till May 3 on April 14. Meanwhile, it is now reported that the T20 World Cup might not happen in 2020 and the ICC can be forced to push it to next year.
On the other hand, it is also reported that the organisers might target to host their respective events behind closed doors. Players like Glenn Maxwell have already stated that the IPL can be played in empty stadiums but a tournament like the T20 World Cup can not be played with no spectators.
Sources close to the development have confirmed that the ICC makes around $5 million to 10 millions from the sale of the match tickets. In fact, the same amount is expected to be more in Australia. Thus, it is going to be a massive loss for the ICC if the whole tournament is to take place behind closed doors.
One of the IPL team officials has confirmed that as the big events of other sports have been cancelled or postponed, it is going to be a tricky situation for the ICC to go ahead with the T20 World Cup later in the year. Hence, there are good chances that the IPL might kick off the cricket season whenever it is possible.
“It is also a dicey situation for the ICC management to organise big events when major tennis, football and athletic events aren’t happening this year. So our understanding is simple. If at all cricket happens in autumn, it is got to be IPL for sure,” a team official told Sportskeeda on Sunday.
There is no doubt that it is going to take some more time before normalcy comes back. It was earlier reported that the BCCI might target the October-November window to host the IPL if the T20 World Cup is deferred. However, the ICC has stated that it plans to schedule the tournament as it is scheduled from October 18 to November 15.
Written by: Gautam Chauhan
